"Gus," the Tyrannosaurus rex breaks record at Sotheby's auction house
The sale drew criticism from paleontologists concerned about the impact of private sales on scientific research
A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Gus sold for $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday, setting a new record for a dinosaur fossil sold at auction. The skeleton sold to a phone bidder well above its pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million.
It was excavated on a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, by the commercial fossil outfit Theropoda Expeditions, and takes its name from Gary "Gus" Licking, owner of the land where it was found and excavated between 2021 and 2023. Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice-chairman and global head of science and natural history, said the result had "been years in the making," describing Gus as "not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that's been excavated, documented, prepared and cared for with real excellence."
Gus is believed to be 67 million years old and stands 12.5 feet tall, with a body length of approximately 38 feet, a skull length of 54 inches, and a femur length of 50.39 inches. Sotheby's said these types of figures make it "one of the largest T. rex ever found." The skeleton's head is too large and heavy to be mounted on the body and instead sits separately in the lobby of Sotheby's Breuer building, with a reproduction head fitted on the mounted skeleton.
The auction house says Gus is approximately 61% complete by bone count and 75% to 80% complete by bone mass, with an "exceptionally preserved skull" including all six dentitions. The bones show signs of tyrannosaurid bite marks and healed fractures, which are evidence of combat, scavenging, or injuries sustained during the animal's life.
The sale surpassed the previous auction record for a dinosaur fossil, set by a stegosaurus named Apex that sold at Sotheby's in 2024 for $44.6 million.
Ahead of the auction, paleontologists raised concerns that such sales could restrict scientific research by placing specimens beyond the reach of academic institutions. Richard Butler, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Birmingham, said the trend of dinosaur fossils being "marketed and sold like rare artworks at vast prices" was concerning."